2 San Juan cops face murder raps for detainee’s death

MANILA, Philippines -  Two San Juan City policemen are set to be charged today with murder and maltreatment of a prisoner for allegedly beating a detainee to death and hurting another last July 27.

Inspector Nicanor Lambino, acting chief of the investigation division of the local police and Police Officer 2 Bernard Lucom, a member of the follow-up unit, will be charged before the San Juan prosecutor’s office.

The charges are for the death of Rey Dumaplin, 40, and the injuries sustained by his co-worker, Andy Ramos, 27. The two men were charged with stealing P107,000 and five cell phones from their employer, Salud Reyes.

According to Ramos and another detainee, Gerry Soriano, the two policemen entered their cell in the wee hours of July 27 and started beating Dumaplin to force him to admit the crime. Ramos said the two cops also hurt him.

Ramos was cleared of theft charges by the fiscal after he presented an affidavit of desistance from his employer.

After two hours, the detainees went back to sleep but Dumaplin did not respond when his fellow detainees tried to wake him several hours later. He was declared dead on arrival at a hospital.

Eastern Police District (EPD) director Chief Superintendent Miguel Laurel said he will forward the documents of the case to the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) for the conduct of summary dismissal proceedings against Lambino and Lucom.

“It’s now up to the courts and the NCRPO to determine the fates of the erring cops,” Laurel said in an interview.

Senior Police Officer 4 Geminer Tingne said that according to an autopsy report, Dumaplin died of “multiple traumatic injuries in the head, neck, trunk and extremities.”